The Town of
Santa Rosa
- Genealogy
- History of Santa Rosa
- The Town Today
- Places of Interest
- People of Interest
- Maps
- Photos of Santa Rosa
- Neighborhoods in Santa Rosa
- Citations
Table of Contents
Santa Rosa (Spanish for "Saint Rose") city, is the county seat (since 1854) of Sonoma county, in the western part of California, U.S. It is situated on Santa Rosa Creek, at the foot of the Sonoma Mountains, 50 miles (80 km) north-northwest of San Francisco. Founded in 1833 by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and named for St. Rose of Lima, it developed as a processing-shipping center for agricultural produce of the Sonoma Valley. Agriculture no longer dominates the economy, which now mainly depends on retail-service industries catering to an increasing residential population. The city has been the site of several utopian-living experiments, including Fountain Grove (1885), founded by Thomas Lake Harris. The home and gardens of horticulturist Luther Burbank were given by his widow to Santa Rosa Junior College (founded 1918). The city’s Church of One Tree Museum (built from a single redwood tree) honors “Believe It or Not!” creator and Santa Rosa native Robert L. Ripley. In the nearby Valley of the Moon is Jack London State Historic Park, which contains the ruins of his home, Wolf House; a museum where the writer’s original manuscripts are displayed; and his grave. [1]
Genealogy
Gedcom Index forSanta Rosa, CA. . . . Link . . . Link
Surnames: Armstrong, Arnison, Austin, Bauer, Bertino, Brown, Bullard, Capdeville, Colgan, Dutton, Finley, Girard, Higby, Holloway, Holman, Maybee, Metcalf, Oehlman, Oram, Pack, Singleton, Todd, Trounce, Wagner, Wemore . . . +352 MORE.
GenealogyOnline: About the Town Santa Rosa . . . Link
Surnames: Allen, Amundsen, Benjamin, Bigcraft, Blahnik, Bonaccorso, Cannon, Cook, Dohn, Farr, Fountain, Fulkerson, Garrison, Goggin, Guffee, Herring (born Jones), Hibbard, Jones, Kay, Kellenbach, Martin, Moors, Morris, Napier, Panas, Prince, Ross, Smith, Todd, Welborn
LDS genealogy.com: Santa Rosa . . . Link
Roadside Thoughts: Santa Rosa,
California . . . Link
Santa Rosa California Family History Center [FamilySearch]. . . Link
Sonoma County Genealogical Society . . . Link
The
web site "The Cockrill Family of Sonoma County" [Link] has a wonderful collection of
local genealogy including the following with ties to this
town: There are 296
hits with Santa Rosa so I will not be naming the Surnames
for this town.
History of Santa Rosa
Before the arrival of Europeans, what became known as the Santa Rosa Plain was occupied by a strong and populous tribe of Pomo natives known as the Bitakomtara. The Bitakomtara controlled the area closely, barring passage to others until permission was arranged. Those who entered without permission were subject to harsh penalties. The tribe gathered at ceremonial times on Santa Rosa Creek near present-day Spring Lake Regional Park. Following the arrival of Europeans, initially Spanish explorers and colonists, the Pomos were decimated by smallpox brought from Europe. Social displacement and disruption followed. By 1900, the Pomo population had decreased by 95%. [1]
Santa Rosa was founded in 1833 and named by Mexican colonists after Saint Rose of Lima. The first known permanent European settlement here was the homestead of the Carrillo family of California, in-laws to Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, who settled the Sonoma pueblo and Petaluma area. In the 1830s, during the Mexican period, the family of María López de Carrillo built an adobe house on their Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa land grant, just east of what later became downtown Santa Rosa. By the 1820s, before the Carrillos built their adobe in the 1830s, Spanish and Mexican settlers from nearby Sonoma and other settlements to the south were known to raise livestock in the area. They slaughtered animals at the fork of the Santa Rosa Creek and Matanzas Creek, near the intersection of modern-day Santa Rosa and Sonoma avenues. This is thought to have been the origin of the name of Matanzas Creek; because it was a slaughtering place, the confluence came to be called La Matanza. [1]
By the 1850s, after the United States annexed California following its victory in the Mexican-American War, a Wells Fargo post and general store were established in what is now downtown Santa Rosa. In the mid-1850s, several prominent locals, including Julio Carrillo, son of Maria Carrillo, laid out the grid street pattern for Santa Rosa with a public square in the center. This pattern has been largely maintained in downtown to this day, despite changes to the central square, now called Old Courthouse Square. In 1867, the county recognized Santa Rosa as an incorporated city; in 1868 the state officially confirmed the incorporation, making it the third incorporated city in Sonoma County after Petaluma, incorporated in 1858, and Healdsburg, incorporated in 1867. [1]
U.S. Census records show that after California became a state, Santa Rosa grew steadily, though it lagged behind nearby Petaluma in the 1850s and early 1860s. According to the U.S. Census, in 1870 Santa Rosa was the eighth-largest city in California, and county seat of one of the most populous counties in the state. Growth and development after that was steady but never rapid. The city continued to grow when other early population centers declined or stagnated, but by 1900 it was being overtaken by many other newer population centers in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California. According to a 1905 article in the Press Democrat newspaper reporting on the "Battle of the Trains", the city had just over 10,000 people at the time. [1]
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake essentially destroyed the entire downtown, but the city's population did not greatly suffer. However, after that period the population growth of Santa Rosa, as with most of the area, was very slow. [1]
Santa
Rosa
The
first house in the valley was built in 1838, on Santa Rosa
Creek. The land was granted to Mrs. Carrillo, the mother of
the wife of General Vallejo. In 1851, David Mallagh, who had
married one of Mrs. Carrillo's daughters and Donald McDonald
opened the first store and post office. In 1852, they were
bought out by Alonzo Meacham and Barney Hoen, who
established a general store and trading post. In 1852,
Meacham sold the 70 acres of future downtown Santa Rosa that
he had bought from Julio Carrillo, to Barney Hoen for
$1,600. Carrillo and Hoen surveyed the land for a town and
lots were sold for $25 each. In 1854, the town was chosen to
be the new count seat. By the time Alexander J. Russell
launched Santa Rosa's first newspaper, the Sonoma Democrat,
in 1857, Santa Rosa had grown to 100 buildings. By the end
of the decade it had 400 citizens and several businesses in
the plaza. The railroad was completed in 1872. In the
following five years, the population went from 1,000 to
5,000. .
. . [Archived Website. Link]
Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport (STS) History . . . Link
Diocese of Santa Rosa . . . Link
Historical Society of Santa Rosa . . .
Link
History of Laguna de Santa Rosa . . . Link . . . Video
History of Montgomery High School . . . Link
History of Railroad Square . . . Link
History of Santa Rosa High School . . . Link
History of Santa Rosa Medical Center . . . Link
Hospital care in Santa Rosa County began in 1951, when a group of local businessmen and citizens formed the County Hospital Board and applied for a certificate of organization.
History of Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office [A history of Law and Crime in all Sonoma County!] . . . Link
History of the Church of the Incarnation . . . Link
History of the Santa Rosa Flyers [Junior Hockey Club] . . . Link
History of the Terrible Two [Santa Rosa Cycling Club] . . . Link
History of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation . . . Link
Hotel La Rose History . . . Link
National Women’s History Project [NWHP] History, founded in Santa Rosa, California . . . Link
Santa Rosa Chamber History . . . Link
Santa Rosa Cinemas History . . . Link
Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders . . . Wikipedia
Santa Rosa Valley History . . . Link
Sonoma County Historical Records Commission . . . Link
"The City of Santa Rosa. Historical Sketch." Article in Sonoma Democrat, Volume XVIII, Number 13, 2 January 1875 . . . Link
Origin of the Name -- What it Contains and How it is Supported.
The Italian Community of Santa Rosa. (1880-1945) . . . Link
The Press Democrat [Santa Rosa Newspaper] . . Wikipedia
Check Sonoma Historian [SCHS] for articles about the towns. . . . Link
History of Fires in Sonoma County
Beginning on the night of October 8, 2017, five percent of the city's homes were destroyed in the Tubbs Fire, a 45,000-acre wildfire that claimed the lives of at least 19 people in Sonoma County. Named after its origin near Tubbs Lane and Highway 128 in adjacent Napa County, the fire became a major section of the most destructive and third deadliest firestorm in California history. Most homes in the Coffey Park, Larkfield-Wikiup, and Fountain Grove neighborhoods were destroyed. [1]
A notable exception to the destruction in the area was the protection of more than 1,000 animals at the renowned Safari West Wildlife Preserve northeast of Santa Rosa. All of the preserve's animals were saved by owner Peter Lang. At age 76, he single-handedly and successfully fought back the flames for more than 10 hours using garden hoses. [1]
The fire burned strongly for over seven days, bringing the largest aerial attack in history to Sonoma County skies. Some of the aircraft include a massive Boeing 747 Supertanker, a C-130, S-2, OV-10, DC-10 Air Tanker UH-60 Blackhawk, and Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter. Every police agency in the San Francisco Bay Area was called in to help. Firefighting crews from across California and as far away as Australia came to aid in extinguishing the fire. The fires, alongside the December 2017 Southern California wildfires, comprised the most destructive year of California wildfires on record. [1]
1964 Fire . . . Link . . . Link . . .
2017 Tubbs Fire . . . Wikipedia . . . October 2017 Northern California wildfires
2019 Kincade Fire . . . Wikipedia
2020 Glass Fire . . . Wikipedia
2020 LNU Lightning Complex fires . . . Wikipedia
The Town Today
American Towns . . . Link
Discover Santa Rosa California [by mentalitch.com] (with 2 good videos) . . . Link
LocalWiki: Santa Rosa . . . Link
Permit Sonoma: Sonoma County History Overview . . . Link
Permit Sonoma: The Italian Community of Santa Rosa. 1880-1945 . . . Link
Preserve America: Santa Rosa, California . . . Link
Santa Rosa Today [Niche] (has a map of location) . . . Link
Santa Rosa Homepage . . . Link . . . Link [County]
Sonoma County Life Opens Up: Santa Rosa . . . Link
Visit California: Santa Rosa . . . Link
Wikipedia Page: Santa Rosa. . . Link
WikiVoyage: Santa Rosa . . . Link
In 1867, the county recognized Santa Rosa as an incorporated city and in 1868 the state confirmed the incorporation, making it the third incorporated city in Sonoma County, after Petaluma, incorporated in 1858, and Healdsburg, incorporated in 1867. The city continued to grow when other early population centers declined or stagnated, but by 1900 it had been, or was being, overtaken by many other newer population centers in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California. According to a 1905 article in the Press Democrat newspaper reporting on the Battle of the Trains, the city had just over 10,000 people at the time. In 1943, Alfred Hitchcock filmed his thriller, Shadow of Doubt in Santa Rosa. He would continue to use Santa Rosa, and later Bodega Bay in many of his films. Thanks to this, Santa Rosa became, and continues to be a major hub in the Bay Area for numerous movies.
Places of Interest
Belvedere House, Santa Rosa, California . . . Image
California Indian Museum and Cultural Center . . . Link
Carrillo Adobe . . . Wikipedia . . . Article . . . Images . . . Video . . .
Built in 1837 for Dona Maria Ignacia Lopez de Carrillo (General Mariano Vallejo's mother-in-law), the Carrillo Adobe was the first home on the site of the future Santa Rosa. The remains of the Carrillo home rest behind a cyclone fence off Montgomery Drive, on property owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa in California, adjacent to its Cathedral of St. Eugene.
Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center . . . Link . . . Wikipedia . . . County Page
Snoopy & Charlie Brown: Explore Peanuts History in Santa Rosa With These Four Stops . . . Link
Church of One Tree . . . Wikipedia
Comstock House . . . Link
De Turk Round Barn . . . Wikipedia
Historic Residential Neighborhoods. . . . SEE BELOW . . .
Although most of Santa Rosa's commercial buildings were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, almost all of its numerous houses survived and most have survived to this day. As a result, Santa Rosa has a number of old neighborhoods in and around downtown, several historically designated. These contain numerous old homes, including many Victorians. Most of these are on quiet, often tree-lined streets. An example of one of these houses would be the McDonald Mansion, near downtown.
Hotel La Rose . . . Wikipedia . . . History . . . Nat. Registry . . . Image . . . Home page
Luther Burbank Home and Gardens . . . Link . . . Wikipedia . . . City Page . . . Nat. Registry
McDonald Mansion. . . Wikipedia
Native American History - Santa Rosa Creek Tribe . . . Link
Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Santa Rosa . . . Wikipedia
Old Post Office (Now Museum of Sonoma county) . . . Wikipedia . . . Nat. Registry
Pacific
Coast Air Museum . . . Link . . .
located on the southeast corner of the Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport, next to the airplane hangar used in the 1963 Hollywood all-star comedy movie It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
Railroad Square. . . . Link . . . Nat. Registry
With the highest concentration of historic commercial buildings in Santa Rosa, this portion of downtown is popular with both tourists and locals.
Rosenberg’s Department Store . . . Wikipedia .. . Nat. Registry
St. Mary's Russian Greek Orthodox Church, Santa Rosa, California . . . Image
Santa Rosa Plaza . . . Wikipdeia
Santa Rosa Train Depot . . . Wikipedia . . . Nat. Registry
Sonoma
County Museum . . . Link
Spring
Lake Regional Park . . . Link . . . Wikipedia
Sweet House . . . Nat. Registry
The Gables Wine Country Inn . . . Link
The Gables Wine Country Inn is a circa 1877 Victorian mansion situated, away from the crowds, on just south of Santa Rosa city center. The Inn, a striking example of High Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, sits on three lush green acres with magnificent vineyard and valley views. The Inn, featured on the National Register of Historic Places, has three Italian marble fireplaces, a spectacular mahogany spiral staircase, and soaring twelve foot ceilings. Fifteen gables crown the unique keyhole shaped windows of her exterior.
Taylor Mountain . . . Wikipedia
Trione-Annadel
State Park . . . Link . . . Wikipedia
Wasserman House . . . . Link
Western Hotel, Santa Rosa, California . . . Link
W. H. Lumsden House . . . Link
William Hood House . . . Wikipedia . . . Nat. Registry
Events:
Origin of Women's History Month . . . Link
The project, based out of Santa Rosa, California, was started in 1980 by women's history activists Molly Murphy MacGregor, who was also an SRJC women's history instructor at the time, Mary Ruthsdotter, Maria Cuevas, Paula Hammett, and Bette Morgan.
The
Annual Luther Burbank Rose Parade and Festival . . . Link
People of Interest
Alonzo Meacham . . . Link
In 1852, [Mallagh & Macdonald] were bought out by Alonzo Meacham and Barney Hoen, who established a general store and trading post.
Barney Hoen . . . Link . . . Article . . . 1st United Methodist Church History . . . NewsPaperHistoricalSketch
In the year 1852 A. Meacham and Barney Hoen had a store at the old Adobe. [2] Barney Hoen, sensing the political and economic currents, started a campaign in 1854 to bring the county seat to Santa Rosa. He promised that he and others would donate land for the Courthouse and he and Julio Carrillo offered to donate land for a town square.
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (26 Nov 1922 – 12 Feb 2000) . . . Link
David Mallagh [first store and post office] . . . Link
In 1851, David Mallagh, who had married one of Mrs. Carrillo's daughters and Donald McDonald opened the first store and post office.
Donald McDonald [first store and post office] . . . Link
In 1851, David Mallagh, who had married one of Mrs. Carrillo's daughters and Donald McDonald opened the first store and post office.
Ernie and Alice Thomas . . . Link
Gaye LeBaron, Historian . . . Link
Herb & Claudine Hilliard . . . Link
The Herb and Claudine Hilliard family were the first to live in Lomita Heights. Their home on Encina Court was completed in 1961. They had sheep and horses and their children rode all over the neighborhood.
H.L. Tripp, Santa Rosa Postmaster in 1910 . . . Link
Hugh Codding . . . Link
Glenn Best and Hugh Codding were in the Seabee’s together and when they came home they began to build homes, “For VETERANS BY VETERANS.”
Hugh W. Comstock . . . Wikipedia
James S. Sweet . . . Link
James S. Sweet founded Santa Rosa's oldest successful business college and was a two-term mayor of Santa Rosa. His mayorality marked the city's transition from nineteenth century ward politics to progressive municipal reform.
June and Glenn Best . . . Link
Glenn Best and Hugh Codding were in the Seabee’s together and when they came home they began to build homes, “For VETERANS BY VETERANS.”
Kanaye Nagasawa [aka Kanaye Isonaga]
. . . Link
Kanaye Nagasawa was born to the Samurai class in Japan. He was a very interesting man.. as a matter of fact, his name wasn’t really Kanaye Nagasawa, it was Isonaga, Hikosuke Isonaga and he was one of the first eight Japanese in the United States.
Luther Burbank (1849-1926) . . . Link . . . Link . . . Link . . .
María Ygnacia López de Carrillo . . . Link
Max and Fred Rosenberg . . . Wikipedia
Thomas Lake Harris . . . Link . . . Link
Thomas . . established the community [of Fountain Grove] with an initial purchase of 400 acres of rolling foothills just above the Santa Rosa plain. He built a three-story, Victorian mansion surrounded by lavish gardens which he called “The Commandery”. He continually added to the community’s holdings, eventually expanding Fountain Grove to over 1,500 acres.
List of people from Santa Rosa, California . . . Link
Maps
Downtown Interactive Map [City] . . . Link
Map of Fulton, with boundaries [BingMaps] . . . Link
Map of Fulton [MapQuest] . . . Link
Photos of Santa Rosa
American History TV in Santa Rosa, California (4 October, 2015) . . . Video
C-SPAN’s Local Content Vehicles (LCVs) made a stop in their “2015 LCV Cities Tour” in Santa Rosa, California, from September 12-17 to feature the history and literary life of the community. Working with the Comcast Cable local affiliate, they visited literary and historic sites where local historians, authors, and civic leaders were interviewed. The history segments air on American History TV (AHTV) on C-SPAN3 and the literary events/non-fiction author segments air on Book TV on C-SPAN2.
Historic photos celebrate 150 years of Santa Rosa history [29 Images] . . . Link
History of the Historic 1910 Santa Rosa Post Office [YouTube Video] . . . Link . . . History
Picryl: Historical Collection of Public Domain Pictures of Santa Rosa [over 2,000 images] . . . Link
Santa Rosa: The Chosen Spot of all the
Earth [YouTube Video] . . . Link
Neighborhoods in Santa Rosa
Neighborhoods.com actually lists 181 different Neighborhoods within Santa Rosa. I am only listing a portion of them, focusing mostly on the Historic or larger ones.
Apple
Tree I and II . . . Neighborhoods.com . . .
Annadel
Heights . . . Neighborhoods.com . . .
Bennett Valley . . . California.com . . .Neighborhoods.com . . .
Burbank
Gardens [Historic
District] . . . Link . . . California.com . . . Neighborhoods.com . . .
Cherry
Street [Historic
District] . . . Walking Tour Link ???
Coffey
Park . . . Link . . . California.com . . . Neighborhoods.com . . .
Dutton
Avenue
Fountain
Grove . . . Link . . . Link . . . California.com . . . Neighborhoods.com . . .
Hidden
Valley Estates . . . Neighborhoods.com . . .
Holland
Heights . . . California.com . . .
Indian
Village . . . Link
Juilliard
Park. . . Link . . . City Link . . . History . . . Howard Gilkey . . . Location . . .
Junior
College . . . California.com . . .
Lomita
Heights . . . Link
. . . History
. . . Image Collection . . . Neighborhoods.com . . .
McDonald
Mansion
[Historic District] . . . Link . . . California.com . . . Neighborhoods.com . . . YouTube . . .
Monroe
District, an area historically known, from 1870s on . . . Link
Montecito
Heights . . . Link . . . California.com . . .
Montecito Meadows OR Montecito Ridge
Montgomery Village . . . California.com . . . Neighborhoods.com . . .
Moorland
Avenue
North
Junior College
North
West Santa Rosa
Oakmont
Village . . . Link . . . Neighborhoods.com . . .
Olive
Park
Railroad
Square District . . . Link . . . Association
Ridgway
[Historic
District] . . . Link
Rincon
Valley . . . California.com . . .
Roseland
. . . Link . . . California.com . . .
Santa
Rosa Avenue
Skyhawk
. . . California.com . . .
Spring
Lake
South
Park . . . Link
St.
Rose [Historic
District] . . . Neighborhoods.com . . .
Stonegate
Town
& Country/Grace Tract
Valley
Oak
West 3rd
West
End Arts and Theater District
West
End [Historic
District] . . . Link . . . Association . . . Neighborhoods.com . . .
West
Junior College
Citations
[1] Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. "Santa Rosa". Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Oct. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/place/Santa-Rosa-California. Accessed 16 September 2022.
Wikipedia contributors. "Santa
Rosa, California." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 7 Sep. 2022. Web. Viewed on
16 Sep. 2022. . . . Link
[2] "THE CITY OF SANTA ROSA. HISTORICAL SKETCH. Origin of the Name- What it Contains and How it is Supported." Sonoma Democrat, Volume XVIII, Number 13, 2 January 1875. . . . Link
[3] "Historical and Descriptive Sketch Book of Napa, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino: Comprising Sketches of Their Topography, Productions, History, Scenery, and Peculiar Attractions", C.A. Menefee, 1873 . . . Link
[4] "Historical and Descriptive Sketch of Sonoma County, California", Robert Allan Thompson. L.H. Everts, 1877 - Sonoma County (Calif.) - 104 pages. [Bodega pp 100-101] . . . Link
[5] "An Illustrated History of Sonoma County, California: Containing a History of the County of Sonoma from the Earliest Period of Its Occupancy to the Present Time", Lewis Publishing, 1889 . . . Link
